“Careful,” I murmur as she edges across a narrow ledge.
“I’m fine.”
Automatic answer.
Her boot slips almost immediately afterward.
A sharp scrape against stone—
Then her balance goes.
I catch her before she falls.
My hand locks around her arm hard enough to steady both of us against the rock wall.
Her breath catches sharply.
Mine doesn’t even change.
“Slow down.”
“I had it.”
“No.” I keep my grip on her another second. “You didn’t.”
Her jaw tightens.
Waiting for the argument.
It never comes.
That’s worse.
We keep moving.
The ridge narrows until there’s barely room for single file. Jagged stone rises on one side while open drop stretches on the other.
Lucas suddenly raises a fist.
Everybody freezes instantly.
Ahead, he motions sharply toward a narrow crack in the rocks barely wide enough for a body.
Voices drift upward from below.
Too close.
“Inside,” Lucas whispers.
Clay slips in first.
Then Miles.
Then the civilians one by one.
When Olivia reaches the opening, her injured side catches the rock wall hard enough to make her suck in a sharp breath.
I grab her waist immediately and pull her the rest of the way in beside me.
